Salarymen – “All In Vain”

Social media is powerful. It can be good. There’s a good chance you found this review from a social media post. But it also holds destructive capabilities. It’s the latter that Salarymen caution against in “All In Vain”.

Opening with nostalgic synth melodies, grainy footage, and simplistic 2D illustrations that balance between cartoons and a modern dystopia, they set up all these parallels with a less connected yesteryear. As the surreal illustrations stretch and twist between the iconic landscape scenes of Sydney, Australia, the rhythms begin pumping.

“There’s always someone better off than you,” they chastise. It’s tough love. A reminder to ease off the pressures of social media to look perfect, compete with each other, and always be on. With bright, summery guitars and vocals, both Thom Eagleton’s and Renee de la Mott’s catchy melodies put a positive spin on this gentle reminder.

But just because their tone’s gentle doesn’t mean it’s not powerful. The slow buildup to Renee’s atmospheric vocal ascent at 3:28 pulls you from chord to chord. And at that apex, her crystal-clear head voice pierces through the harmony, an acoustic parallel to do the same with your social media accounts. After you watch and share it, remember Renee’s final comment about this song, “You are cool the way you are.”

Watch “All In Vain” below.

Ben McCoy

Ben is an advertising Madman who spends his days with words and music. When he’s not writing for his supper, he’s eating it at some of NYC’s most interesting restaurants.